Auteur: bruno

dvds of note: michael nyman / dziga vertov Рman with a movie camera and jean cocteau / philip glass la belle et la b√çte

this may be old news (as said, i’m catching up), but here’s one dvd i’m looking forward to: la belle et la b‚àö√ßte will be released on the criterion collection in the spring of 2003. i already got the nyman dvd a while back, neatly packaged in a light steel encasing, cd-size, published by the bfi.

there’s two reasons to buy that nyman/vertov dvd: one is for the nyman music that you’ll otherwise miss out on, and the other one is the classic montage pioneer film by vertov. the music is’n really grafted on the motion in the film, and i’m not sure that’s such a bad thing. either way, nyman managed very adequately to avoid breaking up the continuity of the film.

» more info: amazon uk | bfi | imdb

as for la belle et la bÍte, it says on the criterion website:

renowned composer philip glass has created a new 5.1 surround mix of his beauty and the beast opera for inclusion on criterion’s upcoming dvd re-release of jean cocteau’s classic film. glass’ opera will be one of four audio tracks available on the newly-restored beauty and the beast, along with audio commentary by film historian arthur knight, a second commentary by writer and cultural historian sir christopher frayling, and the film’s original soundtrack. look for criterion’s beauty and the beast re-release in early 2003.

» more info: criterion release page | imdb

BL!NDMAN quartet. i once had the privilege of seeing bl!ndman quartet performing live in the vooruit in gent. not just a regular concert, but they played (performed ?) the accompanying music to a silent movie, kurutta ippeji (something old and beautiful). i was blown away by their technique and the amazing soundscape they laid out. i think that afterwards, a cd of their performance was for sale in the lobby, and to this day i still regret not having bought it then (–of course i haven’t been able to get it since).

two cds i have been able to buy: bl!ndman plays bach (2000) and the recently released multiple voice (2002). they’re not available through amazon (at least i didn’t spot them), but i got them from the fnac (in gent) where they are readily available. you could also try via their website

music reduced to its essence. where reduction stands for minimalism, not loss in any way. the music as performed by bl!ndman is very broad and overwhelming indeed, with lots of colour and intonation. it’s where you can hear each individual note very clearly, but never do they sound isolated, or stuck.

from the notes from bl!ndman plays bach

Having just started as a saxophonist, I experienced a great shock when I was practising J.S. Bach’s flute sonatas on the soprano saxophone. The ‘open sound technique’ I used when playing the instrument […] gave these scores the stunning sound range of woodwind and brass, voices and organ sounds.

[…]

My choice was ettled by the Choralpartiten. In these little-known organ works I discovered a sparkling inventiveness and deep emotion. What is more, when the four saxophones unravelled the young Bach’s ingenious intertwining of the parts, the result was a disarming transparency.

This modest and broadly coloured, essentially religious work assumes a secular dimension of pure enjoyment and goes back to the source of all music: the breath.

from the notes from multiple voice

Contemporary works have always reflected age-old compositional techniques; the organum technique used by Leoninus and Perotinus, in which the continuous voices develop in parallel, the 13th-century hoquetus technique in which the meldoic line is divided between several instruments, and also the imitation canon repeating themes several times.

[…]

New music is played alongside early music and the two merge apparently seamlessly into one another. Centuries are made relative, and the consciousness of historical time fades.

Apart from Leoninus and Perotinus, multiple voice also features work by Thierry De Mey, John Cage, and Jonathan Harvey. (warning: the cd says copy protected; haven’t tried to import it to iTunes yet)

in an effort to catch up with releases, there’s the third album in the years without history series

the series started out with moins de m‚àö√ßtre, assez de rythme (live in paris 1992), continued with in the absence of hindrance (live in gdansk 1998), and now there’s the third, cave musicam (live in brugge 1998). the albums combine to a nice overview of mertens’ work on live recordings.

live recordings for minimalist music (or the likes) always strike me as kind of odd. they often sound as clean as studio versions, with the only difference being the sometimes included applause. there is one huge benefit though, over say e.g. ‘best of’ cds, in that these live versions are often slightly different, more mature versions of the orginal work. and that is very true for this cycle.

whether you’re just getting to know mertens or already own a few albums, i’d highly recommend these albums to add to your collection. (if you don’t want to buy them all, my preferred order is three – one – two.)

is anyone else curious about the 13 album box that’s about to be released by the end of the month?

i’m currently finalizing a forum for the michael nyman website. it will be a basic application, with some membership functionalities, such as notification of responses, ability to participate in contests, maybe polls. in order to entice people to register for the forum, we’re giving away 10 promotional cds of facing goya. (caution: these are not the full (double) cds you’ll find in the shops, but a single cd containing track samples)

registration (and the contest) will start on monday; the forum should be live beginning december

i’ve decided not to opt for a ready-made forum, in order for me to be able to fully integrate the forum with the rest of the site. this means e.g. that at the bottom of each discography item, there will be a section called ‘feedback’, enabeling you to give your appreciation on a certain album (why only leave reviews to the press)

writing this gets me thinking about implementing a rating system for the albums listed, and since we’re doing some kind of membership project we might discern between ratings from by members and ratings by guest (non-members). or simply only enable members to rate albums.

membership will, of course, always be free. so why membership? people will have to register in order to post to the forum (not to view). the ability to rate albums. enter contests (draws). maybe notifications of news, new releases, a newsletter, why not; there used to be a (monthly) newsletter.

let’s get to work then.

as winter is fast upon us, i thought to choose a more appropriate colour scheme. it’s odd how this time of the year makes me want to become active again. things have more or less settled down, and i’m starting to listen to music as i used to. there have obviously been quite a few noteworthy releases during the last months, and i hope to pick this up again soon. december.org org will be about announcements, and will be teamed with a media library project i’m currently working on.

thanks for all the e-mails. as to not make your visit completely useless, i’ve decided to put up a few pointers to sites i like, and often visit. this list might or might not be expanded in the future. (i also might put the archive back up)